Origins
by VasquezLives
Summary: The ninja turtles' first night on the surface leads to a discovery of their own origins, and gives them a new sense of purpose, for tonight, they face Oruku Saki. Love project inspired by the first TMNT comic!
1. Chapter 1

_His name was Leonardo, and he and his brothers had made a wrong turn somewhere._

_Now they were trapped, backs to the wall in a trash-strewn alley. Barring their way were fifteen members of the Purple Dragons, the toughest street gang on the East Side. The only way that the Purple Dragons would allow them to ever leave that alley was after they were dead._

_The ninja held his katana in a relaxed, ready position. To his left, Donatello and Michelangelo followed suit with bo staff and nunchakus. With his sais, Raphael guarded his right side._

_Leonardo could sense his body quivering with tense energy, waiting to be triggered into savage, slashing **release.**_

"You're** dead, **freaks! Nobody trespasses on Purple Dragon turf and gets away with it, especially when they're wearing stupid turtle costumes!"

_He was wrong. They were not wearing costumes._

"Hey!"

"Here they come! **Blast 'em!**"

_They were young, but they were no rookies. They had been around, toughened by the streets. They'd fought and beat everything on two legs in this area except **them.**_

_The ninjas hit them airborne. Leonardo took out two on the way down while Donatello nailed a third with his bo. The punks didn't waste much time with hand to hand. They broke into small groups and opened up with their artillery, handguns roaring to life._

_Raphael loved that stuff. His sais flashed as he leapt, and the three punks don't even see it. They were disarmed in seconds._

"W-who **are **these guys?!"

"Don't know. Some kinda freaks! But even freaks can bleed, **cut 'em!**"

_Leonardo's katana flashed. _"Yes. We can bleed…..and so can you."

_Their first major skirmish was over, and the turtle ninjas were still standing. Their training had served them well. Master Splinter would be pleased._

_A police siren wailed close by, coming fast. When they arrived they would find only what was left of the Purple Dragon gang._

_They didn't like to run from those who could have been their allies, but the police would not understand them. The storm drains beckoned. The turtles are never far from a means of escape or concealment, for they are trained in the art of ninjitsu._

_They strike hard, and fade away into the night._

_The storm drains and sewers were their home. They knew every inch of these subterranean passages. For all of their years, they have dwelled in these dark depths, learning, growing, building._

_The old, wise robed rat that they returned to raised his furred head as the foursome entered and bowed. _ "Ah, my sons. You return at last. You have fought?"

"And won, Master Splinter, against fifteen foes!" _Michelangelo's excitement came through in his boast._

"You have done well. Your ninja skills are near their peak. I have forseen this night for many years. Now it is time…time for you to be told of the mission for which I have trained you these past thirteen years. To help you understand the purpose of this mission, I must speak of **my** life and how **you **came to be."

* * *

_ "My tale begins some twenty years ago. I was a young rat, a pet, bought and cared for by my beloved master, Hamato Yoshi. While my master was training, my cage was kept in his dojo, and it amused him to see me mimic his movements."_

_"But it was more than mere mimicry. Slowly, through observation, I learned his art, the mysterious martial art of ninjitsu! I could not have had a better teacher, for it was said that Hamato Yoshi was the greatest Shadow Warrior of the famous Foot Clan, the most feared warriors and assassins in all Japan. Another member of the Foot Clan, Oruku Nagi, was Yoshi's rival. He and my master competed fiercely in all things, especially for the love of a young woman: Tang Shen. Both tried to win her heart, but from the start she loved only one: my master, Hamato Yoshi."_

_"Nagi was insanely jealous. One fateful night, he went to Tang Shen's home and demanded that she love him. Shen refused. In a rage, Nagi began to beat her. At that same moment, Yoshi entered the room and saw Nagi poised to strike. Yoshi's world vanished in a red haze, and when it cleared, Nagi was no more."_

_"Yoshi's shame was great. By killing another member of his clan, he had dishonored himself. His choices were simple, but not easy. To take his own life, and hope for honor in the next, or flee with Shen to another country and try to start a new life. He chose the latter, taking along with him a few belongings, including me, and came with Shen to New York City. Here my master formed a martial arts school, and prospered."_

_"Meanwhile in Japan, Nagi's family, especially his younger brother, Saki, were nourning his death. The seven-year-old Saki vowed vengeance on Yoshi. The Foot took hold of Saki's anger and used it to bend him to their own purposes. Saki began intensive training in the ninja's art and soon surpassed his teachers. As he grew older, his hatred of Yoshi grew deep and bitter. Saki moved quickly. Within a year he had built the New York Foot into a force to be reckoned with."_

_"Under Saki's leadership, the Foot was soon dominant in many criminal activities, among them drug smuggling and arms running, and their specialty: assassination. Saki, now called The Shredder, was very successful…but not satisfied. In his dark heart burned a fierce hatred for Yoshi and Shen. On a night nearly fifteen years ago, Saki finally made his move."_

_"My master Yoshi came home that evening, never expecting that his most dangerous enemy lay in wait. Entering the apartment, Yoshi's gaze fell on the still, silent form of his beloved Shen, and then he saw her killer."_

_"In the struggle, my cage was smashed. I was free, but my master was dead. IN my grief, I wandered the streets, living on scraps of garbage and fighting off feral alley cats. Then one day, everything changed. While I was searching in a trash can for my next meal, I witnessed a near-accident. An old blind man crossing the street was almost run down by a large truck, but at the last moment, a young man leaped into the street and knocked the blind man out of the truck's path. As the truck screeched to a jarring top, a metal canister bounced out of the back of the truck and struck the young man."_

_"Unnoticed by the crowd, the canister bounced several more times, ultimately striking and smashing a boy's glass bowl which held four small turtles, you four as infants. Along with the canister, you fell into an open manhole. Fortunately, a pile of dead leaves, old newspapers and other detritus broke your fall, but the canister split open, releasing a glowing green ooze which covered your bodies as you crawled around in it. I followed you into the storm drain and, not knowing why, gathered you up into a discarded coffee can. I took you to my burrow and cleaned off as much of the goo as I could. It was a messy job, and I also ended up covered in the strange substance."_

_"The next morning I awoke to find the can tipped over, and the four of you doubled in size! Somehow that ooze had affected your growth. As I learned later, it had changed me also, making me more intelligent and larger as well. But I didn't grow as quickly as you did. Within a year, you had reached your current size. You followed me everywhere I went, though I did not allow you above ground…I could not risk your being discovered. I was amazed at how intelligent you seemed, but even so, I was not prepared for what happened one day. One of you actually said a word, my name! More words followed, and shortly you were all speaking. Soon you started to stand upright and copy my movements."_

_"I began training you then, teaching you all that I had learned from watching Master Yoshi. I taught you the use of weapons and empty-hands fighting, the art of stealth, the ethics of the warrior code, and all that I knew of this world. Using a battered copy of a book on Renaissance art that I had found in the storm drain, I had chosen names for each of you: Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael."_

_"Now, my sons, I am old, and there is a task I would have you perform before I leave this world. I must ask you to do that which no being should ask of another. I ask you to avenge the cruel death of my master Hamato Yoshi and his beloved wife, Tang Shen. I ask you to seek out, challenge, and **kill **the murderer Oruku Saki: **The Shredder.**"_

**Thanks so much for reading! If you liked it, please let me know in a review and follow the story for the rest! I really appreciate it, it really helps me write. I hope to see you in the next chapter.**


	2. Chapter 2

_Raphael loved the night air._

_He despised the dank, dark underground. His brothers didn't seem to mind it…but this was where he belonged, darting over the rooftops of New York City. Such a feeling of freedom, so much room to move about!_

_He was Raphael, ninja turtle, and Master Splinter chose **him **for this task: to deliver a message of challenge to the Shredder._

_Splinter had told him to infiltrate the Shredder's headquarters and deliver a calling card, and it was all too much Raphael's pleasure as he arrived at the fences of the Foot Clan base. Two guards on the right, one on the left, all had to go._

_Raphael's lips curled back in a semi-smile. They would be his calling card._

"Intruder!"

"Stop him!"

_They were armed, of course, but that's okay. He was too. The pair on the right were down in seconds. The third guard saw the action, but didn't sound the alarm. Raphael's smile held. He probably thought he could take the turtle out by himself._

"You! Who are you? Ninja?"

"Turtle," _Raphael growled._

_They connected in midair, and when they landed, Raphael was standing. The other wasn't._

_The message was wrapped around one of his sais, and as Raphael crouched outside of the guarded building, he could see through the window: Oruku Saki speaking to some flunkies. It was an easy shot._

* * *

"So you see, Mr. McCadam, it is to your **_advantage _**to have my organization's protection." _Oruku Saki spoke coolly, calmly, with just the undercurrent of danger. The leader of the Foot Clan was not ruffled, not even when the sai flew through the window scarce inches from the end of his nose, embedding into the wall. As it did so, the note around the dangerously sharp blade unwrapped and fell to the floor:_

**_"Oruku Saki, also known as The Shredder: You have shamed and dishonored the name of your family by murdering Hamato Yoshi. I give you the chance to regain your honor. Meet my four students for a duel to the death tomorrow night at the following address…."_**

"Mr. Oruku, is _this_ the protection you would have us buy? If you cannot keep your own complex secure, then we cannot believe that your protection is worth anything! Goodbye, sir!" _ One of the businessmen fumed, and taking his associates, was out of the door in less than a minute._

_Oruku Saki did not look up to acknowledge their words nor their actions, staring instead at the note with clenched fists._

"Who can this challenge come from? What fool would pit his minions against the might of the Shredder?" _The young man shook his head. _"In the end it doesn't matter. His effrontery will come to grief soon enough. There **_will _**be a duel, and there **_will _**be a death. Theirs."

* * *

_The following night, the turtles stood at the requested address, staring up at the top of the building they were to scale to meet Oruku Saki, the Shredder._

"This is it, my brothers," _Leonardo breathed. _"Use your climbing claws, and go silently!"

_They climbed, quiet, eerie as the inhuman creatures slinked up the side of the building without struggle. When they reached the top, Leonardo stepped forward._

**"Shredder, we are here!"**

_Silence greeted them, without the slightest movement not caused by the wind. They watched quietly before Leonardo shouted again:_

**"Shredder! Face us!"**

_On a separate rooftop, clad in armor, Oruku Saki crouched, watching the foursome. _"Who _are _these freakish fools?"

_He shook his head, still not quite understanding why, after so long, **this **came back to haunt him. He killed Yoshi fifteen years ago._

_It didn't matter. His men were in place, and the time was near for him to finish this business once and for all. Hamato Yoshi's name would never be spoken again._

**"Shredder! Do you fear us?!"**

_The insolence of the young and confident._

_Leaping catlike, Oruku Saki landed, perfectly balanced, on the edge of the building._

**"I am here. Come face your doom! Foot, join me!"**

_He crouched, bladed gauntlets ready as a horde of masked ninjas flooded the rooftop, silent, eerily so, armed, and trained by the best: Saki himself. There were three at least to every turtle, but without faltering, the young turtles threw themselves into battle._

"These guys are good!" _Donatello's bo staved off a nunchuck strike as he spun out of the way of a blade. _

"Arrg! A bit **too **good!" _Raphael grunted, brutally slashing at what appeared to be an exposed spot on a Foot ninja's torso, only to be skillfully deflected._

**"But we are better!" **_ Leonardo roared with the power of a lion as his twin blades danced, the most focused of Splinter's pupils shining in this display of ninja prowess._

_It was moments later when the last Foot soldier fell._

"All your ninja have fallen, Shredder!"

"Yes…so I see…They were good men," _Shredder mused, almost casually. _"My best." _His keen eyes took in the battered, bloody turtles. _"I see too, that they have left their mark. But that was just students fighting students. Now you must face a teacher – a master." He spread his arms. "Come! One at a time, or all at once, I don't care. For only I will leave here **alive.**"

_Raphael leapt. _"Me first!"

_A dodge. A swipe. Blood spurted from green scales. A powerful kick._

"Hah! You left yourself wide open! You are much too slow."

_Michelangelo barrel into his torso. Shredder reached casually and tossed him away, almost flicking. _"Amateurs." _Behind his metal helmet, a grim smile touched Oruku Saki's face. _"Come, Kappa, your brothers have fallen. You are next!"

_Leonardo was fast. Very fast. His blades sang as he moved, twin swords moving in sync, and Shredder's chest ripped open, two even gashes across his torso._

"Bah! Four fools!" _Shredder staggered slightly, stance wide to maintain balance. Impossibly, he raised his arms to guard again, sliding into a defensive posture._

"He is too skilled for us to fight one-on-one, brothers! Remember Master Splinter's teachings – Use group tactics and hit from a **distance!**"

_Shurikens winged towards the Shredder from four reptiles, the hidden blades slicing, too numerous and too random for him to deflect. Some proceeded past his armored forearms, tearing at his skin and clothes._

_Raphael aimed his sais, grinning savagely. _"Dodge these, **Master!**"

_Shredder sailed through the air on a graceful arc, taking him overtop the thrown triple pronged blades as Raphael's knee swung into the ninja master's gut._

"Curse you! Ulp!"

_Raphael's tri-fingered hand slammed up into Shredder's chin as Donatello's bo slammed into an exposed, oozing cut in Shredder's side, angling up to smash apart the Shredder's helmet._

"This is the end for you, Shredder!"

_Oruku Saki's elbow swung back, cracking Donatello in the shell. Demasked, the Shredder's grim, blood-spattered countenance was now visible to all cold-blooded students._

"You are overly confident, fool."

_Leonardo sprung before the Shredder, smiling._ "Perhaps he is, Shredder." _His blade sunk into Shredder's exposed, clawed abdomen, tip springing blood-stained through his back. He leaned close to him. _"But perhaps not," _he whispered._

_He stood back, removing the sword. _"Now you are beaten."

_Shredder looked up at them with dark eyes blazing with hatred and disgrace. _"So finish it, fools. I am helpless. Slay me now!"

"We turtles are not dogs without honor," _Leonardo said grimly as his brothers gathered around him. He flipped the sword around, extending the handle to Saki. _"Unlike you, Oruku Saki. I will grant you one chance to redeem your honor. Take this blade, and commit seppuku!"

"Never!" _The beaten master roared despite his wounds. _"If I must kill myself…." _His voice grew steadily weaker. _"I will...take…all of you…turtles…with me!" _He reached into his belt, pulling out a small, cylindrical device. _"This…thermite grenade…will wipe this rooftop clean of all life…including you!"

"No!"

_The bo staff extended with serpent speed, striking the Shredder's hand, and then his jaw with considerable force, knocking him off balance._

_And just like that, Shredder was falling, falling…off of the edge of the building, down to meet the pavement. He was still, in shock, unconscious or too proud, none of the ninja were sure. They stood over the edge, watching as he made contact with the street._

_Silence in the night air of New York City._

"It's over, my brothers. Our mission is accomplished. Our master's master is avenged." _Leonardo cleaned his sword, reverently putting it back in its sheath._

"I'm tired, Leo." _Michelangelo looked up, snout to the moon, and Leonardo could see the oozing cuts, the large bruises his brother had taken in this, most important night._

"Yes…so are we all, Michelangelo. Let's go home."

"Uhh! I ache all over!"

"A hot bath would be nice…"

"And some tea."

_The four brothers made it to street level, marching down the alley where Shredder's body had fallen. Armor was scattered, lying about the alley. Blood stained the ground, but it would be forgotten by morning, and one day, maybe Oruku Saki's body would be discovered._

_They were the Teenage, Mutant, Ninja, Turtles. They strike hard and fade away into the night._

_And tonight they have won._

**Thank you guys so much for reading! Please let me know what you think in a review, it means a lot, and really helps me write! If you want, feel free to check out my other TMNT projects, and again, thanks so much for reading.**


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